In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences is hosting a series of discussions over the next few months to help bring the National Parks to people in Las Cruces.
Gus Sanchez, Superintendent of Chamizal National Memorial, says he was first exposed to the National Park Service as a kid on family vacations in Texas.
“It was our long trip all across Texas into West Texas,” Sanchez said. “In my dad’s station wagon, going to Big Bend, and seeing really for the first time as far as I was concerned what the word wilderness meant, not just an intellectual idea, but actually experiencing it. And to be honest I never really got over it, I’m still learning more and more each day what that’s about.”
Now at the 100th, anniversary he’s hoping more people get to experience the National Parks in the same way he did, but utilizing modern technology.
“Talking to young people,” Sanchez said. “We’re so dependent on technology now, and instant gratification that we’ve adopted a lot of that technology into the experience of the national parks. So, you might come to one park and be able to use your smart phone to get information about specific sites when you walk up there.”
Sanchez says they keep up to date on the latest trends to keep people engaged.
“Let me give you one small example,” Sanchez said. “This crazy Pokémon phase that has become so popular. I actually instructed my chief of interpretation and her staff. I said if people are going to go there anyway, let’s incorporate some of the park stories to the places where they’re going, and maybe they’ll learn that while they’re playing their game.”
Sanchez says technology can also help make the parks more available to the public.
“I think that if you can experience the essence of the story,” Sanchez said. “And perhaps get to see some of it even in the virtual world. It at least maybe gives you something, and then might connect you to when you can say hey one day I’m going to go there.”
But, Sanchez says there isn’t a replacement for the knowledge of the park employees.
“What people want,” Sanchez said. “Is they want a National Park Ranger to tell them about the National Park, that’s how we created interpretation. We’re not interpreting a language. “We’re interpreting a complex resource, so that people can relate to it better.”
For information on future lectures visit history.nmsu.edu.
